When our cousin Megan turned five, she invited us to her cupcake decorating party. She’s fun and precocious and a very prolific penpal for my five-year old son, with wonderful messages like “1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 100 CU COUSIN MEGAN RYAN LEGO.” Her writing is beautiful and I hope she doesn’t mind that Ryan hardly writes her back.
Since her birthday falls close to the holidays and lands her amid massive amount of gifts, I worked hard to come up with a gift with which Megan could play pretend, learn a little and dream big.
I started with plastic coffee cups labeled with her namesake.
Megan’s a good girl, but still, I figured her parents might still appreciate the “Fresh Daily” caption.
During my holiday shopping, I found odds and ends for the bakery basket: Cookin’ Cookies game (we bought one for our house too, simple and easy enough for my two year old to play), The Great Doughnut Parade book, Stonewall Kitchen Chocolate Doughnut Mix, a Mini Doughnut Pan, Foodwriter edible color markers, icing and sprinkles.
I bought the baking pan for us too, but no mix, so we tried the one on the back of the package during a playdate. Turned out pretty adorable – a perfect one-bite snack and no one missed the fried factor.
Baked Mini Donuts
YIELD: 24 mini donuts
INGREDIENTS:
1¼ cups cake flour, sifted (I substituted 2 TBSP cornstarch and the rest unbleached flour)
½ cup granulated sugar
1¼ tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
¾ tsp salt
½ cup buttermilk (you can substitute 1/2 TBSP vinegar or lemon juice and 1/2 cup of milk)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1½ TBSP butter, melted
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Prepare pan with nonstick baking spray.
In a large mixing bowl, sift together cake flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Add buttermilk, egg and butter, and stir until just combined. Use a piping or ziploc bag to fill each donut cup approximately half full.
Bake 4–6 minutes or until the top of the donuts spring back when touched. Let cool in pan for 4–5 minutes before removing. Finish the donuts with glaze, sprinkles, or cinnamon sugar.
Recipe adapted from Wilton.
Labels printed on Avery Clear Full Sheet Labels.
Font: Old Rubber Stamp
Download: Megan PLATES
Megan is honored to be included in your blog during launch week! Not too mention the fact that we’re over the top in love with the wonderful and creative gift she received from her cousins
.